The case of Portland Cement Zambia is known to everyone in Zambia by now. The case was initially registered at the Lusaka High Court by Dr. Rajan Mahtani who claimed that his factory was illegally taken over. Despite sharing evidences and testimonials more than enough to prove his legal ownership, the judge at the Lusaka High Court gave a misdirected judgement. According to Lusaka High Court judge Nkonde, Ventriglias were declared as only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement. To counter this judgement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani then approached the Court of Appeal.
The judge at the Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde who gave the announcement on 31st January 2019. According to this judgement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the majority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement with 58 percent shares. On the other hand, Ventriglias are only minority shareholder of the cement factory with 42 percent shares. Based on this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the legal owner of the factory.
Apart from the groundbreaking decision, the judge from the Court of Appeal also revealed major inside issues associated with the case. It was found that Finsbury Investments under the leadership of Dr. Rajan Mahtani paid a sum of K 580,000,00 to the court. This payment was made on 6th February 2019 in compliance with the court judgement with the objective of commercial registration of the Portland Cement Zambia. The payment was made along with interest. At the same time, Finsbury Investments also claimed a sum of K1 billion with interest for the share capital issues for Zambezi Portland Cement. This payment for the entire share capital was further confirmed by the Court of Appeal judge with the proof of share transfers conducted between January 2007 and December 2006. As per these proofs of transfers, it is clearly established that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the majority shareholder and also the legal owner of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory.
